Led by the society, with professional support from National Museums Liverpool, the project will investigate the heritage of Rainford village, focusing on its history as a potting and clay tobacco pipe cottage industry.

Priory 900 is the title of the festival to celebrate the 900th anniversary of the foundation of Bridlington Priory as a house of Augustinian Canons in 2013, under the banner Celebrating the Journey. The festival programme has been designed to encourage and enable the public as a whole, in Bridlington and beyond, to explore and appreciate the heritage of Priory and its impact on and significance for the town as a whole.

Penelope Weston, the co-ordinator for Priory 900, said:  "We are absolutely delighted that our application has been successfully. This will make it possible for us to realise our goal of including as many people as possible in this celebration – to bring together their journeys and the Priory’s journey over time. It is only occasionally that a town or city can claim special attention as the celebration of a particular anniversary brings it into sharp focus. The anniversary provides the town with the opportunity to claim the lime-light for a year, celebrate the magnificent landmark of Bridlington Priory and find out about how it has shaped the town,  in the past and present, and how it can enhance its future."

The HLF grant supports a wide range of heritage related activities within the Priory 900 programme, aimed at providing the community and visitors with opportunities to celebrate the anniversary by getting involved. These include heritage craft workshops, an exhibition and book on the life of St John of Bridlington (the last person to be made a saint in this country before the Reformation), exploration of the monastic site, a pilgrimage re-enactment to the shrine of St John, from York and from Beverley, a heritage conference, school activities and a project to invite the public to share their own family and local history.

Fiona Spiers, Head of HLF Yorkshire and the Humber, said: "It is not often that a community gets to celebrate the 900th anniversary of a local landmark. Bridlington Priory is a fantastic building that deserves to be enjoyed by everyone. Priory 900 will inspire and build on local enthusiasm to celebrate and share the fascinating history of the Priory and the wider town.”

Many local Partners have already pledged their involvement, including Bridlington Free Press, East Riding of Yorkshire Council, the RSPB, Bridlington U3A and Bay Primary School who all provided letters of support for the HLF application.

Councillor Richard Burton East Riding of Yorkshire Council Portfolio Holder for Civic Wellbeing and Culture and Councillor for Bridlington Old Town and Central Ward, said: "This is an excellent start to what will be an exciting year in the history of Bridlington Priory. The HLF grant will really make a difference to the way that people can get involved in the events and activities that are planned. I would like to congratulate the Priory 900 team of volunteers on this achievement, which recognises all their hard work so far. I hope that this will be a year that really puts Bridlington Priory on the map, not only within the town, but much farther afield, as it really is a spectacular heritage attraction to be proud of."

A key aim of the programme is to record and present outcomes of these activities online to create an ongoing living history archive for local people and all those with an interest in the locality and its past. The HLF support for the project will enable the widest range of people from the community to be involved in both development of the programme, and the actual activities, so that tangible outputs can provide a legacy for the future to be used as heritage resources. This will enable the local community and visitors to the town to continue to engage in and explore the history of Bridlington through the Priory as a heritage resource and visitor attraction, both during Priory 900 and in the future.

For programme information and tickets please visit the Priory 900 website.

Further information

Priory 900 project: Penelope Weston, Co-ordinator on 01262 678 484 / lead@priory900.org or Becky Young, Administrator on 07583 432 163 / info@priory900.org.